One of the many tragedies of war and lawlessness is that they tend to transfer power to the worst of people; this documentary follows the trail of Issa Khan and Koba, two Afghani gangsters who became important officials of the western-backed government. The story of their brutality is set against the wider story of the brutality inflicted on the country as a whole, self-evident in the visual backdrop (indeed, the contrast of the war torn province of Helmand, to footage from the capital Kabul, is striking). It's a brave and important piece of investigative reporting. My only quibble is with the film's title, which seems to put the primary blame on the western powers; but no evidence is provided that they knowingly turned a blind eye. Instead, one might see this kind of happening as the inevitable outcome of a war fought without any clear plan for how the peace was to be won. And although western troops have now left, as one interviewee states towards the end, after 42 years of conflict, it is still sadly hard to see how things will get better any time soon.